Volume 11,
Issue 2,
1962

The annual business meeting of the Council was held November 1, with President Frye presiding. All of the Council members were present with the exception of P. F. Russell, A. Gabaldon and Clay G. Huff. Drs. DeWitt, Wright, Salisbury and Miller were also in attendance.

The minutes of the ninth annual meeting, held in Los Angeles, were approved as published in the Journal for March 1961. The Secretary's report was presented as follows:

This report covers the period of the fiscal year from October 1, 1960 through September 30, 1961. Perhaps of most significance to the Society insofar as the position of Secretary-Treasurer is concerned was the enforced multiple changes in this office during the reporting period. Because of the earlier than expected retirement of Dr. Rolla B. Hill it was necessary for the newly-elected Secretary, Dr. Don E. Eyles, to take office prior to the last annual meeting. Subsequently it was necessary for Dr. Eyles to transfer to Kuala Lumpur,Malaya, which necessitated another change, and the undersigned was honored with election by Council, taking office June 1, 1961.

Only four years have elapsed since publication of the third edition of Anderson's Pathology, but the rapid accretion of knowledge and the change from the traditional morphological to the modern multidisciplinary view of pathology make this new edition welcome, and reflect themselves in the changes which have occurred in the text.

New chapters on “Hypersensitivity diseases” and “Mesenchymal tumors” have been added, while many old chapters have been extensively rewritten: In Dr. Klemperer's introduction, this has resulted in a distillation of wisdom; in most other sections material has been added. Major improvements have occurred in the coverage of disturbances of body water and electrolytes by T. M. Scotti, in the description of dental, oral and salivary pathology by P. E. Boyle and R. J. Gorlin, particularly the section on tumors, and in the revised chapter on liver disease by H. A. Edmonson and the Editor.Drs. A. T. Hertig and H. Gore have supplied a new classification of ovarian tumors.

In the tropics one is impressed with the great variety of living things. This remarkable characteristic applies not only to plant and animal species but also to skin diseases. While the medical practitioner or researcher in the tropics might like to have conveniently nearby a dermatologist for consultation, rarely is one available, and one must depend instead on a search, usually vain, for specific etiologic agents in culture or section and on a much thumbed textbook of dermatology with plenty of pictures. How difficult it sometimes is to be sure that the selected picture really represents the disease presented by the patient. Cutaneous Medicine is a textbook designed for the beginner in dermatology. It stresses the basic mechanisms and broad classifications of skin diseases. It thus impresses the reviewer as being just as useful to the physician dabbling in dermatology as to the embryo dermatologist.In clear, concise fashion it provides a guide not only to the understanding of skin disease but also to the information which the amateur should obtain for satisfactory identification.

Dr. Eli Rubin in 1947 published his diseases of the chest which came to be recognized as one of the two or three best texts in the field of pulmonary diseases. Since that time the study of chest diseases has expanded prodigiously and is now far more solidly based on pulmonary anatomy and physiology than it has ever been. Drs. Eli and Morris Rubin have so extensively revised their original book that they offer, in effect, a new book. It supplements the general textbook of medicine and leads the reader into the literature of their respective fields, and emphasizes cardiopulmonary relationships.

The book is an excellent one as the descriptions of diseases are complete, accurate and adequately illustrated. Due to a unified authorship, inconsistencies and omissions are avoided. New diseases are adequately covered, but not to the detriment of more intensive treatment of common diseases such as tuberculosis and bronchiogenic carcinoma.

The book may be divided into three parts. The short introductory chapters include definitions of various terms as well as general considerations of life cycles and embryology of parasitic organisms. The second, longest portion (511 pp.), represents a systematic review of protozoan, helminth (platyhelminths, nematodes, and nematomorphs), and arthropod parasites, and includes also a short chapter on the “Miscellaneous Phyla” (Mesozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata, Ctenophora, Nemertea, Acanthocephala, Annelida, and Mollusca). The remaining 189 pages are concerned with the broader approach to parasitism and deal with physiology and biochemistry, effects of parasitism on the host and the parasite, as well as with ecology and evolution of parasitism.

It is the last part, dealing with the broader aspects, which, based on a thorough review of the pertinent literature, constitutes the important contribution to the field of parasitology.No one can expect an exhaustive presentation in a text book intended for advanced undergraduates, but the wealth of information included is impressive and reflects the familiarity of the authors with the various facets of their field.